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I have been wanting to post about Pokemon for a long time here, but I haven't.

My little brother who is almost 13 years old is a big Pokemon fan. He collects cards, watches the movie over and over, watches every episode on tv, plays the gameboy nonstop, reads about them, etc. I think that it is a bad hobby, he is wasting his brain.

Today, he asked me to look over a homework assignment, and he did horrible on simple math problems. He had trouble subtracting 450 from 800, and things like that. He has just about forgotten the entire multiplication table, and he is in the 7th grade. I blame this on his Pokemon addiction

I think Pokemon is a stupid thing to waste your brain on. There are plenty of things that are better to do...like posting at SitePoint

Pokemon has also caused touble at schools...my brother's old school had to ban it totally. That's a step in the right direction.

Pokemon is just a waste of time...I don't see why anyone plays it.

Maybe its addictive, but I have played the GameBoy game a bit and I think its plain stupid.

10 years down the line, my brother would probably regret his Pokemon experience. I won't regret my webmastering.

Well thanks for letting me express myself. Anyone else who thinkgs Pokemon is stupid? I can't be the only fool...

I don't know if "stupid" is the right term to use. You could probably say that being a hardcore Pokemon fan isn't most likely going to get you very far, career wise at least.

Some people like those types of shows, and I don't see anything wrong in a person watching them when they have a little extra time, once in a while. It isn't like you can do something useful 100% of the time and I don't think anyone actually can do something useful all the time anyway. You would probably go crazy if you tried to webmaster all the time, everyday.

I think Pokčmon is stupid. Especially when I have to sit down and listen to people name ALL Pokčmon. That type of art, animč, is awesome though. You have DragonballZ, Tenchi, and they USED to be Little Bits. I loved that show.

I hate the wanna be Pokčmon, Digimon. My goodness that is annoying. My brothers ALWAYS watch it. They complain when they miss a rerun. If anybody wants two little brothers, one 11, the other 9, please e-mail me. I throw in a Dell Pentium III 633MHz laptop!

Unlike what many of you guys seem to think, Pokemon isn't bad, pathetic or stupid. Let me remind you of the fact that Pokemon is meant for YOUNG kids and not almost-adults like you guys

Ok, I admit, I've watched some episodes and played it on the Gameboy (testing puposes => EmuDreams ) and I don't think that it is bad. I could even call Pokemon one of the best games ever published for the Gameboy...

One thing I must agree on: The card are bad. But that opinion can be a little unreliable since I'm a hardcore Magic fan

Well I agree with trcfreebies - all my bro ever says or does involves Pokemon - when we go out for the day somewhere nice he will chat about pokemon to whoever will listen.
I think it is bad because it means other things suffer, like education etc. Someone that mad on Pokemon can't be giving enough time to their homework etc.
Right from the start I have thought it was a waste of time and money (my bro has sent over Ł200 on it so far).

Well I think Pokémon! isn't that bad... Not that I watch it. I'm not the target audience of Pokémon!... But it sure is better than Power Rangers or all that other mutual stuff. Off course all the hype around it isn't good. But that hype will go away. We all have been in a hype not?

Through Pokemon, my son's reading level has improved to above where it needs to be. He never was interested in reading before but with the games and the cards he is forced to read. I have spent probably 30 dollars in cards and $200 dollars on Gameboy equipment including several cartridges besides Pokemon. My Fiance also bought a gameboy and the pokemon game so she could play with my son and they could become closer.

Pokemon isn't the only thing my son does, he plays on the PSX and studies on the computer as well. He also builds a lot with legos and similar things. And now he reads books that interest him.

Well that's about how I think about it. It's a very nice idea, those Pokemons, but it's just what people do with it which is bad. Like young kids spending all their money on those (ugly and useless) cards. But the same happens with every hype, so it would be better to look at the cause of an hype: what makes something populair?

Besides, there are older people too who are collecting things that are totally useless, like someone collecting old cars or stamps

Admit it, (almost) anyone has a time in his/her life in which he/she was totally crazy about something and wanted to collect every thing of it.

Just take a look at the phenomenon called 'populair youngster bands'. This is an extremely interesting thing that has many similarities with the phenomenon 'fans of sportclubs (with soccer, basketball etc.)'
They both cause that the (mostly teenagers) people are busy with that particulair band and have hardly interest for other things/hobbies.

This intriguing phenomenon can be linked to the same physical changes who take place when a person is in love: specific substances are being released by the body into the bloodstream. These substances are very similar to the active substances found in drugs like XTC. They make the person feel full of energy and very happy. That's why people hate to be seperated from the person they love or when they're not allowed to spend time with their favorite hobby, like Pokemon (or using a PC, like me ). Those people are like junks: they feel that they can't live without those substances, although these effects lasts only a few weeks/months.

To summarize: It is not the fault of those characters, the managers who launch such a campaign/hype are just using one of the weaknesses of the Human species.

It's just a cartoon!

A little insight into the Pokémon phenomenon:

The show bombed in Japan. Its creator got the idea from collecting bugs in jars as a child. He would then take his bugs out of the jars and pit them against each other. All his schoolmates told him it was a stupid hobby. That stupid hobby concocted a million dollar toy, television and videogame industry, all revolving around the same concept.

Personally, I can count on one paw how many times I've sat down and watched the show. Regardless that the characters are shallow and can't speak English, the show does have its merits. It teaches kids about friendship and how to reach their goals. Animé is a very good educational tool for kids.

Look at it this way, its just a fad and before long it will pass just like the rest of the toy hype (anyone who remembers those "pog" milk caps knows what I'm talking about! They were toted as the new collector craze, and now they're totally worthless!)

Anyhow, more and more better Animé programs are coming to American television. Pokemon will fade and something else will take over

I think it's too easy to blame pokemon for everything.
If your son or brother is not doing good at school it's certainly not the fault of the pokemon.

When it's coming to children i belive that parent's are responsable for the education of their childrens and the way that their childrens spend their time.

It's too easy to say that the school is not doing a good job, or that TV make children aggresive, or that pokemon make your son stupid. If parents' are not taking care of their childrens, they should not blame anybody or anything else.

The experience of Wluke show that pokemon can really be a good thing.
But that kind of experience involve taking some time to understand your childrens and "driving" them throught their passion.
Instead of blaming Pokemon, try to think about the positive thing that can come from it.
If i was into pokemon and that i was 8 years old, i'm pretty sure that a deal for a 100 in Maths for some pokemon cards would be reeally attractive.
That's just 2 minutes of your time, and some money that anyway you would have use to buy those pokemon cards. But that also can be a good start to show them that in Life if they do a good work they can get something in exchange of it...

I don't have a big problem with my little brother's obsession...none of my family does. Our only concern is a blurred line between fantasy and reality...every now and then we remind the kid that Pokemon is NOT real...that's it.

My reasoning behind this is simple: Pokemon is a good idea gone horribly, horribly wrong. Pokemon would have been an alright anime--maybe a bit too 'monstery' for my tastes--but the show is built with small children in mind. Now, this is fine and dandy, but they play it at FOUR PM! Which means that as I am sitting down on the couch to flip on Playstation, turn on a movie, watch T.V., whatever, that I will invaribly hit the Kids WB channel and see that awful series. Pokemon would have been such a good anime if he had content that didn't always fall back on morals that are quickly vanishing from our grasps. The attempt to revive these per having little monsters battle is laughable. Don't believe me? Look at the kid who got hit by a car and died, all of the little kids were more quick to steal those 'precious' cards then to aide the boy. Truly sickening.

Oh, also, Sparkie, Anime is what we commonly call 'good shows.' Pokemon is not even on par with the lamer versions of Anime, such as anime made as a result of game series [Tekken: The Movie comes to mind, although it was quite alright.] If you believe that this.. cartoon.. is Anime, I am going to find you, strap you into a chair, and make you watch the entire Lodoss War Series.

Oh, I'll toss this little comment in for Wayne: that is just simply superb that your son has improved vastly, however the simplemindedness of the cartoon, and the utter greed that it inspires [ugh, go to a Pokemon League Meeting at Toys 'R' Us, or Borders once or twice, you'll understand] is overshadowing to the qualities that it can inspire.

Pokemon has taken over the minds of many kids...its too addictive. I guess it is OK when controlled, but it is still a worthless hobby that will get you nowhere in life.

Morals. Bah! Thats just something that the makers add to the show to make it airable. There is a lot of fun in normal education...I thought that shows like "Bill Nye" were fun, and they are educational.

Maybe Pokemon is entertaining to some. But it is still worthless.

Its a fad, but a long one. It's been here at least 3 years, thats pretty long. At least pogs died out in one summer